Together We Stand
by EbonyDraygon
Summary: Atlantis is lost. Its people scattered. Only by uniting with the remains of their mortal enemies, do they stand a hope of surviving. Rated M now, because of the major whump that's going to follow.
1. Scattered: Chapter 1

**Set about 3 years after EatG**

**The inspiration for this came from a post by cimmer on SCI:FI. All credit goes to her. All blame goes to me.**

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"Get to the 'gate!"

Major Lorne fired his gun at their pursuers, but it made no difference. The bullets from Lorne and his team just ricocheted off the armour plating. Cursing, he saw Ronon's squad attempting to join them, only to be cut off by more armour-plated warriors.

"Ronon! Don't bother, just head for the 'gate. " Lorne shouted into his radio.

The Satedan didn't have time to disobey his order, before a familiar whine filled the sky. Lorne looked up to see the dart screech across the sky and the blue beam engulf Ronon's team. Smiling, Lorne tuned back to his attackers, who had turned their weapons on the retreating dart.

"See ya." He said, as he was enveloped in light.

***

On the bridge of his hive, the commander waited for the return of the second-in-command with the rematerialized cargo, something he was not looking forward to. As if on que, Lorne and Ronon arrived with the second-in-command following behind.

"You cut that pretty close." Lorne remarked.

"We were under attack from the Has'parian's vessel." replied the commander without turning, "Did you manage to retrieve the module?"

Lorne stood with his arms folded and was glaring at him. The commander snarled in response, which caused the Satedan to raise his gun, making all the other wraith on the bridge raise their stunners in response.

"Now, now, boys! There's no need for such behaviour."

As all the weapons were lowered, Lorne turned to the wraith seated on the throne. She often reminded Lorne of a favourite granny, with her dark-grey hair and wrinkled smile, though not many grannies could literally suck the life out of you. She cocked her head, her white eyes looking directly at Lorne.

"We managed to retrieve the Zee-PM, Prophetess. " Lorne responded, not looking at the growling commander, "There was some other artefacts too, but before we could examine them further, the Guardians showed up."

There was a hiss from the wraith; many had been lost to the Guardians, or to their masters. Lorne heard the commander growl something about grabbing the artefacts first and studying them later. Ronon was about to raise his gun again, when the Prophetess answered.

"The Ancients left many relics scattered across this galaxy, many of which were designed to harm our kind. Would you have preferred that the Major bring back a device that resulted in the destruction of this hive and all on board?"

"No, Prophetess." Grumbled the commander, head bowed in respect.

"Then do not question the Major's motives. They are in your best interest." The Prophetess, nodded towards the commander, who bowed in reply before turning back to bark orders at some unfortunate wraith. The Prophetess turned her attention to Lorne and Ronon.

"Casualties?"

"Already being seen to, Prophetess." Replied Lorne. Ronon simply stood and attempted to outstare the wraith's blank eyes. Despite working with them for the past three years, Ronon still refused to give up his hatred towards the wraith.

"Then I suggest that you visit your friend, Major Lorne. He and the young Queen have not seen you in some time." She nodded to them," A friendly face might do them good."

Lorne bowed to her as he left. Ronon merely left, which made the blind wraith chuckle.

***

"Tr'ken Mckay."

_He saw Carson shielding his patients, Jennifer attempting to do the same._

"Tr'ken?"

_He saw the armoured creature, so reminiscent of the suits worn by the renegade Asgard that kidnapped him and Daniel Jackson years before._

"Rodney?"

_He saw the creature raise its arm, palm spread before it, towards Carson. And fire._

"Rodney!"

_Carson, on fire. Burning. Screaming._

"Meredith!"

Dr Rodney Mckay snapped out of his nightmarish trip down memory lane. The young wraith Queen was staring at him with a concerned expression. She was holding a bunch of playing cards. Why was a wraith holding….? Of course, now he remembered. He had been teaching Molly (as she had been nicknamed by Lorne, apparently it was a military commander's privilege to name things) how to play poker, since wraith enjoyed mental games and exercise. At least teaching them card games had stopped them challenging the remaining members of the expedition to mental duels.

"What?" snapped Rodney. Where had Molly learnt Meredith from? Had she been poking around his head again? She had a tendency to do that when she got board.

"Your bet. I've bet seven power bars and a cookie." Molly looked back at her cards, "Two cookies." She added, before placing the new item on the pile between them.

Before Rodney had a chance to loose yet more snacks to his poker pupil, the lab door opened and Evan Lorne and Ronon Dex entered. As soon as the big Satedan entered, Molly immediately scurried over to one of the wraith terminals and attempted to look busy. Rodney shook his head at her odd behaviour. Every time she saw Ronon, she would go all mousey and shy. In fact she acted a lot like a… nah, she was a wraith. Well…mostly wraith.

"So, how'd your mission go?" asked Rodney, in a conversational tone, "Got any new and or exciting and deadly Ancient tech for me to study?"

"Not this time, Rodney." Sighed Evan as he sunk into one of the lab chairs, while Ronon leaned against a wall and stared at Molly. "Harpy ship showed up. Beamed down a bunch a Guardians before we had a chance."

Rodney sunk onto a bench. Has'parians. Harpies. They did indeed resemble the monsters of myth; part-human, part-bird. In the same way the wraith had evolved from the Iratus bug, it appeared that the Has'parians had evolved from some sort of bird. A large nasty predatory bird, thought Rodney, that had no concept of morals. How it had evolved into a humanoid, or even what the original species had been, was still unknown, but Rodney suspected that the Ancients' probably had their part to play.

"Anyone-" Rodney couldn't bring himself to say "dead". They had lost too many, had left too many friends behind.

"No fatalities. Should all pull through" Rodney was surprised to hear Ronon speak. Ronon had become more reclusive since the flight from Atlantis and the alliance with the wraith. He smile was strained, but it was the though that counts. Lorne was following Ronon's gaze and was staring at Molly. Her similarity with Michael still caused much unease amongst the expedition and the wraith, but while the 'Lantians tended to keep their distance from the young Queen, the wraith seemed to have this weird fear-respect thing going on. Not that any of them knew why. They may be in a tenuous alliance, but as another old would-ally would have said: there was much about wraith they did not know.

Rodney stiffened at the memories. Of Todd. Of the Has'parian attack. Of the loss of Atlantis.

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**Please R&R. If anything, just to let me know someone read this!**


	2. Scattered: Chapter 2

**Thank you for the feed-back. I'm glad you like this.**

**Enjoy**

_The Past_

_The sun had just dipped below the horizon. Teyla Emmagan stood on one of the balconies as she watched it set. It had been less than two months since the city of the Ancestors had returned to Pegasus, along with its missing children. It had taken them almost a year before they had been granted permission to return the city. She remembered the sweet joy of being reunited with Kannan, their son, Halling and the rest of the Athosians. She was glad that they were all safe and there had been much news to catch up on. Now her partner and Torren were living in the city with her. She had resumed missions, but on an infrequent basis as a liaison between the natives of this __galaxy and the Lantians. _

_One thing still bothered her. It had been sitting at the back of her mind ever since Halling had mentioned it. _

"_The wraith are gone."_

_Was it possible? Could they have finally left? She had questioned Halling and the others further, and so had Woolsey and Sheppard when they heard._

"_We only heard that they were gone. Destroyed by an unknown enemy of great strength. Nothing more."_

_This worried Teyla. The last time they had encountered an enemy capable of defeating the wraith had been the Alterens, the replicators. They had also caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent human lives._

_Her senses stirred, warning her of danger. She whipped around, seeing the unwelcome presence of Todd. The wraith had been one of the key reasons for Atlantis' return. The IOA were unwilling to allow it to return as it knew too much about the city, but were not keen on keeping it on Earth. In the end, it had been Sheppard that saved this wraith from starvation or experimentation. _

_At that moment in time, Teyla wished he hadn't._

_Pointing a wraith stunner at her, (where had it got a stunner from?) it grabbed her and held her in an arm lock._

"_There is not much time," it rasped, "you must do exactly as I say if you wish your mate and child to survive."_

_Teyla stiffened at this threat. The creature had threatened her family. If it had done anything to them, then she would not rest until it had suffered. Still pointing the stunner at her, Todd led her out into the corridor before releasing her._

"_Return to your quarters. Gather what you need. Then come to the gate room with your mate and child." Teyla was confused by this reaction, wondering whether it was a trick. Then she looked into its face, into what was concealed behind its eyes. What she saw frightened her more than the wraith's threat._

_Todd was terrified. _

_Turning, Teyla ran all the way to her quarters. It had taken less than ten minutes for herself and Kannan to hurriedly pack a bag each. When they arrived in the gate room, Kannan carrying their infant son, it became apparent the extent of Todd's desperation. Everyone who had been working in the gate room was slumped over at their workstation or collapsed on the floor. The wraith in question was standing by the DHD, dialling an address._

"_What is the meaning of this, Todd?" asked Teyla, "Why did you threaten my family?"_

_The wraith looked at her as the 'gate whooshed into life. "I am not the threat," it said simply as it walked down the steps, avoiding the stunned bodies, "I am saving you from it."_

_Torren had begun to sniffle, and Kannan was looking worriedly between Teyla and the wraith. "Why do you care so much for the well-being of my family?" Teyla hissed, "If there is danger, all of Atlantis must be informed." _

"_It is only a threat to us!" Todd roared, "It hunts the wraith genetic signature, and does not distinguish between pure wraith and part-wraith."_

_Teyla was taken aback by the outburst. "That does not answer my question: why do you care?"_

_The wraith hung its head. All Teyla heard were two words. Two words that explained everything._

"_My Queen."_

_Teyla's cold fury softened at this honesty. It was saving them because of a loyalty she believed had long since faded. _

"_Where are you sending us?" she heard Kannan ask. He too had heard and understood Todd's reply._

"_Earth. I have already locked the address in the database, so you will not be followed." It extracted a strange crystal pendant from under its wraith coat. He handed it to Teyla, closing her hand around it. "Take this. If the masters of the threat find this, then…" he left the statement hanging._

"_Is it a weapon?"_

"_It is the key to a weapon. One that could spell death for all." Todd's gaze shifted to the 'gate. "You must hurry. The IDC has already been sent. They are expecting you."_

_As Kannan walked through with Torren, Teyla turned back to Todd, about to ask it why it did not follow, if these creatures were as deadly as it suggested. Then she understood, or perhaps it explained to her, that it was the distraction. The threat had already sensed a wraith presence and would stop until the source was found. It was paying for the life of her family with its own._

"_Thank you." she whispered as she walked through the event horizon, leaving Todd to his probable death._

***

_The Present_

Teyla walked to the bridge of the Daedalus. It had been three years. Three years of almost pure torture, wondering about the fate of Atlantis and her people. A year after the forced arrival on Earth and after they had failed to get a lock on the gate, the SGC had decided to allow the Daedalus to travel to the Pegasus galaxy to check on the expedition. Teyla had insisted on going with them, but that Kannan, Torren and their baby daughter remain behind. If the monsters that Todd had warned them about still prowled, she would not let them take them.

"_Teyla, you receiving me? Over."_

"I am here." She replied, touching her com-unit.

"_Ship in-bound. You know the drill."_

Teyla turned and headed towards one of the labs. She wasn't ready to be caught just yet.

***

Colonel Caldwell sat on the bridge of the Daedalus, viewing the ship that had just dropped out of hyperspace. It was one of several they had encountered during their two year search of the Pegasus galaxy. A combination of Ancient technology and anything else that could be cobbled together.

"We're being hailed." One of the technicians said.

"Put it on screen."

The screen shifted to show a Has'parian flanked by two Guardians.

"Colonel Cad-wellll," the creature trilled, "Sssuch a…pleasssure to sssee you again."

"I trust you have a reason for stopping by?" the Colonel would never trust those damned things to give him a straight answer. They treated all life like infants. Now wasn't that an unusual experience.

"Ohhh, nothinggg to…worry yourself with." It smiled patronisingly, "However…I would like to sssend sssome… colleaguesss, to yourrr ssship. Nothingggg of too muchhh trouble."

For 'colleagues', see 'strike force', thought Caldwell. Not that he could stop them. If he did, he would be endangering the whole crew. He nodded curtly at the screen, and saw the Has'parian smile develop a few more degrees of cold menace, before the transmission ended.

No, he did not like those creatures on bit.

***

Teyla sat in the lab, turning a piece of wraith technology over and over in her hands. She had no idea what it was or how it functioned, but for the look of the thing, she made vague notes on a computer tablet near by.

As she rested the thing down and raised another, the door opened to reveal A guardian and its Has'parian handler. Teyla set her features into one long practised. She turned to them, face stony. The Guardian immediately raised its arm, only to have it lowered by the Has'parian. The creature turned to Teyla.

"My…apologiesss, for dissssturbing you work," the creature's smile never reached its eyes, "but there wasss a high concccentration of _wrrraith_," it positively spat the word, "genetic ssssignal…coming from thisss location."

Teyla brought her head up haughtily. "That is because I am studying the remains of a downed hiveship's date core in this lab." She stared long and hard at the Has'parian, "Your disturbance could cost us valuable intel on the remaining wraith. Lost intel that could cost the lives of my people."

The creature stooped low on a mock bow. "Of courssse. We will not delay you furrrthurrrr," it crooned. As it shooed the Guardian out of the undersized doorway, it turned back to Teyla, "I wisssh you luck, Sssora of the Genii."

As the door closed behind them, Teyla sank back onto her seat. It was a blessed piece of luck, that the Has'parians, for reasons of their own, were convinced that the woman that was Teyla Emmagan was dead and the one that still roamed the galaxy in her form was the Genii soldier Sora, who was aiding the Tauri by providing them with information on this galaxy and its enemies.

"_Teyla. This is Caldwell. Are you receiving me? Over."_

"I am still here." She sighed.

"_Just letting you know the Has'parian ship has just entered hyperspace. We're in the clear."_

For now, she thought. Our luck cannot last forever.

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**Same again, please R&R. All comments are useful**

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	3. Scattered: Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_The Past_

_Lorne stood guard outside the cage uneasily. They had found their escapee in the Gate control room, along with a good chunk of the personnel out-cold from some sort of wraith stun device. Naturally, the wraith had been promptly escorted back to its cell. Apparently, it had used wraith mind tricks in order to convince one of the guards that his friends were in fact wraith and that the cell was occupied by one of his best friends. Lorne knew Sheppard was privately chastising himself for not foreseeing this sort of attempt. Mind you, it had been a while since anyone had had to deal with wraith hallucinations._

_The wraith sat in its cell, looking completely worn out. Its head was rested in its hands and it hadn't moved for the last hour or so. If Lorne was feeling generous towards the prisoner, he would have felt pity for its obvious suffering. Right at that moment however, he would have rather drop-kicked the wraith off the tallest spire in the city._

_At that moment, Colonel Sheppard strided in, his face distorted in by fury._

"_Where is she?" he shouted at he prisoner. The wraith looked up at him wearily._

"_Who do you refer to?" it replied pleasantly, though utterly exhausted. Except... something seemed wrong. The wraith didn't look tired. Something was defiantly up with it, but the Major couldn't quite put his finger on it._

"_Teyla," spat Sheppard, "and her family are missing. You were found messing around with the gate, so it stands to reason that you had something to do with their disappearance. Now, I'm going to ask you again. Where the hell is Teyla?!"_

_The wraith seemed to consider this for a moment. But a moment was too long for Sheppard's already frayed temper. He deactivated the shield, and before Lorne or his men could react, marched into the cell and grab Todd by the throat. As the wraith was still shackled, it could do nothing to stop the colonel._

"_Safe." It wheezed, attempting to raise its hands high enough to remove Sheppard's hands from its neck._

"_I'm not inclined to trust your definition of 'safe', Todd," Sheppard increased the pressure around the wraith's neck, making it choke._

"_Sir!" Lorne didn't like the wraith either, but Sheppard had over stepped the line. Wraith or not, a prisoner still had some sort of rights, including not being strangled by Major Lorne's superior officer._

_Sheppard snapped to his senses at the sound of the Major's voice. Lorne saw him stare at his own hands as he chocked the wraith, then step back suddenly as if it was electrified. The wraith fell to the floor coughing and wheezing._

"_You're going to come with me," Sheppard said in measured tones that implied the great amount of self restraint he was having to use, "and you're going to take us to where ever you sent Teyla, got it?"_

_The wraith looked up at Sheppard, still gasping for breath. It looked into Sheppard's eyes, before turning its head and nodding. As Sheppard and Lorne's team of marines escorted Todd up to the commander centre, Lorne realised what it was about the wraith that looked wrong. The slumped shoulders, the downward gaze, the air of hopelessness and defeat that Lorne had never associated with wraith._

_Todd had given up. As if he didn't care what happened next._

***

_The Present_

Lorne lay in his quarters staring at the organic ceiling, reminiscing about the time before the alliance. Don't the best day-dreams, but he couldn't really think of anything else.

_"Major Lorne? Can you hear me?"_

The telepathic voice of the Prophetess, nicknamed Grizabella by Lorne (which had been unfortunately shortened to Grizzle by the others) woke him from his reverie.

"What is it?" Lorne asked out loud. He didn't like holding telepathic conversations. By answering out loud, he was able to convince himself that it was just like speaking into a com-unit.

_"Would you be so kind as to come up Dr McKay's laboratory? Before we have a…. situation."_

Groaning, Lorne grabbed his flak-jacket and headed for the command deck.

***

When Lorne arrived at the wraith lab that had been commandeered by McKay, he was greeted by a nervous Rodney. He smiled weakly at Lorne.

"What's the problem?" Lorne asked.

Rodney nodded behind him, to where Lorne saw Molly sitting next to Grizzle. Lorne saw that the kid had bruising on her pale arms that looked like she'd been grabbed. Hard. She was shaking as the elderly wraith helped her raise a cup to her lips. Ronon was also present, looking grim as ever.

"One of our guys grabbed her while she was coming back from the genetic cloak generator." answered McKay, looking concernedly at his young assistant, "She won't say who though."

Lorne went and squatted down next to Molly. She refused meet his eyes.

"Molly, you have to tell us who attacked you, who hurt you. Otherwise they could do this again." Lorne looked at Grizzle. Both understood that if the rest of the hive discovered that a member of the expedition had harmed the young Queen, all the remaining team would be punished.

The wraith girl mumble something at her knees. Grizzle put a comforting arm around Molly's shoulders and crooned something in the wraith tongue. Molly hiccupped and looked at Lorne. Her silted grey eyes were wild with fear.

"He-he didn't mean any harm…." Molly's voice was petered out as her fear took hold of her tongue again and she started to cry once more.

"Grabbing you hard enough to bruise? Terrorizing you? I say they meant it." Lorne heard the gravely voice of Ronon say, "Next time, just suck some of the life out of them. Makes 'em easier to spot and it'll deter others from doing the same."

Lorne wasn't the only one to be surprised by the former runner's suggestion. Rodney stood by the door, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, while Grizzle raised an eyebrow she didn't have. Lorne glared at him. Ronon shrugged his shoulders at his stunned audience.

"What? It could always be given back when they got the message."

Lorne opened his mouth to discipline Ronon for his lack of tact, but Molly's beat him to it.

"I don't…I don't want to hurt people," Molly whispered, turning her grey eyes on Ronon, "Not if I don't have to. I don't need to-to feed like the others." She hung her head as pearly tears stained her face.

McKay broke the awkward silence that followed.

"Look…we'll see if we can find out whoever did this. Just, you know, get some rest and we'll sort this out, okay?"

Grizzle looked in McKay's direction and smiled at the scientist. Rodney did his best to hide his unease at being under the blind wraith's blank gaze and Lorne sympathised with him. He always felt awkward when caught under Grizzle's stare. The elderly wraith bowed her head in respect.

"Then we shall leave it in your very capable hands." She rose, encouraging the still shaking Molly to do the same, "I trust you will deal with this swiftly. We cannot have violent malcontents wandering about this hive unchecked, now can we?"

She bowed to them again before escorting the young Queen out of the lab, using her cloak-like robe to hide Molly's injures from the potential view of the other wraith.

The Major released the breath he hadn't even realised he was holding as the lab door closed. Rodney still looked shocked and Ronon was unreadable as ever.

"I should never have asked her to go and check the generator." Rodney moaned as he sank into a chair, "I should have gone myself! Then Molly wouldn't have been attacked, by one of out people for Christ's sake!"

"Come on Rodney, how were you to know she would get jumped? Don't beat yourself up over it, McKay." Lorne nodded to himself as he finalised a plan of action in his mind, "Okay. Rodney, you use that chatter box you developed to listen in to people's com-units, see if you can overhear anything of use."

Rodney nodded and began searching through the junk scattered over the tables. Lorne indicated for Ronon to follow him out. They left McKay to see what he could pick up on. Lorne hated betrayal of his people's trust and violation of their privacy but right now he couldn't afford losing this alliance with the wraith. Without their help three years ago, those that had managed to escape the seizing Atlantis would have been dead within a few weeks.

"See what you can you can find out from people," he said to Ronon as the walked corridor, "They may be more likely to open up to you, seeing as you and the wraith have a history." Ronon snorted at the remark, making Lorne grin, "I know, but see if you can use your reputation as wraith-hater extraordinaire to find out who attacked Molly or if they're planning something a bit more permanent." Ronon nodded and the two men went their separate ways.

***

The wraith that had come to be known as Molly wandered the corridors, having been unable to get some rest due to the pain in her arms. She was wearing a jacket on of the expedition members had given her in order to hide the bruising on her pale skin. If one of the wraith wanted to know why she was wearing a Lantian jacket she would just have to say she was chilly. Well, she was half human, she was allowed to be cold wasn't she? That thought made her return to the melancholy that had been bothering her all her life. Half-human, half-wraith. A hybrid. Humans appeared to be only able to see that part of her that was wraith, while wraith only saw the human side. For so long now, no-one had seen her for herself, a young girl caught between what fate seemed to want her to be and what the rest of reality saw her as. Sometimes she wished she hadn't found out who she really was, who her mother had been.

Voices up ahead made Molly pause. She recognized them as human, none of the strange resonances that went with wraith vocalisation. She could even make out the identity of individuals. One was the ex-runner Ronon, who led one of the Lantian strike teams and a close friend of Tr'ken McKay, for which she was glad, because then she got to see him more often. Not that he would ever notice her. His hatred towards a certain half of her blood-line was infamous. The other voice made her stiffen in cold terror. She stopped herself from calling out for help mentally just in time. She didn't want to cause any harm to the Lantians if at all possible. Pressing herself into the organic wall of the corridor, Molly listened.

"Why do care so much about the brat? She's wraith for god's sake!"

"Half-wraith."

"So? That make's it worse! A hybrid. Remember the last time? Remember Michael?"

"Molly's different."

There was a snort of laughter.

"Yeah right. I can't believe your standing up for a wraith. After all they've done to us-"

Molly heard the speaker choke on the rest of his sentence. Followed by the sound of a body being thrown into an organic wall at force. Summoning her courage, she creped along the wall until she could peak at what was going on. Ronon was holding the man who had attacked her, a lieutenant she vaguely remembered, up against the wall by his shoulders. The man looked scared by the snarl on Ronon's face.

"Now listen," Ronon growled at the man, "if I find out that you hurt Molly again I will personally feed you to one of the wraith, got that?"

"Y-you wouldn't d-dare!" the man stammered, "Major Lorne would have you court-marshalled!"

Ronon grinned menacingly. "I'm not one of your Earth military, remember?" The young soldier paled further, "Besides, I'm sure I could get a _royal_ reprieve."

He let the soldier drop to the ground. "Be sure to tell your buddies that if anyone else is planning any more accidents to happen, I'll see to them too." The soldier nodded hurriedly before scrambling away. Ronon remained where he was for a few moments, then left down a different corridor.

Molly left too, scurrying back to her quarters, her mind full of what she had just witnessed. She wanted to be in privacy before she started crying again.

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**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I never believed this would be so popular! **

**Please continue to read and review, it's always appreciated.**

**Oh, and for all you Shep lovers, you should find out his fate soon (if not the next chapter then certainly the chapter after!)**


	4. Scattered: Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

_The past_

_Ronon Dex walked around the Alpha site base camp. They had been trying to find somewhere better, somewhere that wouldn't be a target for the Has'parians, but for now, the Alpha site would have to do. It gave the Satedan time to think._

_They had ran. Like frightened children during a culling._

_They had left people behind._

_They had let people die._

_They had ran._

_Ronon kicked at a stone in his path. It was Sateda, all over again. He had lost his home, his team and his friends. Teyla, Woolsey, Sheppard…. They were gone._

_In his morose mood, Ronon almost walked right into Major Lorne, who was sitting on a rock with a sketch pad balanced on his knees._

"_Watch where your going, Ronon." he chided, rubbing out the smudge that had been caused by the knock._

_Ronon looked closer at the drawing. "Didn't know you were into art." He commented, watching Lorne put the finishing touches to his work._

"_Yeah, everyone seems to say that," Lorne replied with a chuckle. He made a last mark before holding up the sketch pad to admire the finished work. It was Teyla, with her hair billowing as the wind caught it. She was holding her son, with Kannan putting a protective arm around her as they both looked over the city. Ronon smiled at the image, the tranquillity and peace captured on the page._

"_May I?" he asked, indicating the sketch pad. Smiling, Lorne handed the pad to Ronon. He flicked through the pages. All depicted in these drawings. Some were group shots of several people, others were individual portraits. One of Woolsey in his office. Zelenka fiddling with some piece of tech. Keller and Rodney in the cafeteria. Carson treating an Athosian child. Sheppard with his feet up on a table reading a magazine with snacks in one hand and beer in the other. Almost every member of the Atlantis expedition that hadn't made it. One image however, made Ronon pause._

"_Why'd you draw him?" he growled._

_Lorne looked at the offending picture. It was the wraith, Todd, depicted aboard a wraith hive ship. Lorne shrugged._

"_It felt right." he replied, "After all, he's the reason the Has'parians let any of us go."_

_Before Ronon could answer back, the whine of a wraith dart filled the air. Grabbing his gun from his holster as the Major grabbed his P-90, Ronon saw the blue flash of the dart's beam hit the ground only a few metres away. Instead of snatching them up however, it beamed down a single wraith._

_It stood there, head bowed, hands clasped in front of it, as Ronon and Lorne approached. It was unlike any wraith he had seen before. It was wearing a ragged robe-like cloak, with the hood pulled up. As they drew closer, it raised its head. It- she- had long dark grey hair that framed its elderly face. What freaked out Ronon most wasn't the ancient appearance of the wraith, even though he had believed that they didn't age like normal humans. What unnerved him most was its blind white eyes. It stared first at Lorne, then at Ronon, before smiling and revealing its needle-like teeth._

"_Do not be alarmed," it stated, its voice deep and musical, "I mean you no harm. I have come to discuss a proposition on behalf of my brethren."_

"_What exactly are you offering?" Lorne asked, warily._

"_An alliance. Against a common enemy," the wraith tilted its head, "I believe you have already encountered beings known as….Has'parians, and their metallic pets." _

"_We've allied with wraith before," Ronon growled, making the wraith turn its blind eyes towards him, "Every time, we got betrayed. How'd we know that you won't do the same?"_

"_The same way we do not know if you will kill us as you have done to other hives, there is no other choice but to trust each other." The wraith closed its eyes and raised its face up to the sky, "If you wish to survive when the Has'parians arrive here in two days time, then I can only suggest that we do so. The choice is yours."_

_Ronon hated running. But he knew it was their only way to survive._

_The wraith had made him good at running._

_***_

_The Present_

They'd discovered a wrecked hive ship.

That wasn't what was bothering him.

The wraith scientists and Rodney said that they should be able to scavenge what they needed from the dead ship.

That didn't bother him either.

They had suggested that everyone should go down onto the planet the dead ship orbited as the genetic dampener that had been hiding the wraith genetic signal for the past three years was playing up and needed to be repaired.

_That_ bothered Ronon.

Because he knew the planet that the lifeless hive was orbiting. It had been his home for many years.

Sateda.

"What was this building?"

The question brought Ronon out of his repose. He and several others had been scavenging the ruined buildings for anything of use. He tried not to think about the friends that had fallen here as he, Molly and Lorne stripped the dead of their weapons and armour. He and Lorne were able to work with a professional detachment to the dead, but Molly carefully removed each item with a gentleness and reverence, as if scared she might hurt the dead bodies.

"Museum." Ronon replied gruffly, trying to stay focused on their task, but his eyes kept drifting back to the girl. The way she stood, her tenderness, her naivety, all reminded Ronon of what he had lost here.

"What's a museum?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"A place where you learn about the past," answered Lorne, looking under fallen masonry, "Y'know, like early settlers, what the planet was like hundreds of years ago. That sorta thing."

"Oh, you mean History Houses. There are many on Reilith, on my home world." She looked around the gutted building, "What sort of History House?"

"What sort?"

"I mean was it a House of Natural History, an Archive House. What kind of history did it store?"

She was looking expectantly at Ronon. He shrugged.

"Dunno. Never came here much when it was intact."

She looked crestfallen, but continued to search. The light shining on her curly hair highlighted the lighter shades of brown in her dark hair. She was different from any other wraith Queen Ronon had seen or killed. She was special.

He continued to rummage amongst the fallen stone work and general clutter. After several goes, he was able to lift one of the larger blocks, to reveal a crushed display case underneath, including all the treasures it had stored.

"Hey! Over here!"

Lorne and Molly struggled their way across the debris to Ronon and helped him sift through the artefacts he had unearthed.

"These are Ancient," gasped Molly as she searched, "they all are!"

"Must have been a museum for Ancient history then," Lorne joked, and received a sharp nudge from Ronon as a result. Molly held up a small device.

"What does this do you think?"

"Hang on, Rodney found one on Atlantis once. It's a personal shield generator," he described an event from the early days on Atlantis, how Rodney had used the personal shield generator to rid the city of an energy creature, while Molly turned the device over in her slender hands.

"So you just place it on your cheast and-" she shrieked as the device lighted up as she placed it.

"I keep forgetting you have the ATA gene," he sighed as Molly tried to bat the device off and was blocked by the shield, "You have to think it off."

Molly looked around wildly for a moment, then closed her eyes in concentration. The device shut down and fell off.

"See? At least you got it off better than Rodney." Molly smiled weakly at Lorne's jest.

"Sorry I screamed," she apologized to Ronon as Lorne moved off, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"What?" Ronon looked at her critically, making her blush and hang her head.

"I didn't read your mind, but when I screamed, you looked worried. I…thank you."

"What for?"

She looked directly into his eyes, "For caring for about wraith, about me…"

Ronon never got a chance to reply. The ruined building started to shake.

"What the-? Everybody out! The structures unstable!" Lorne was shouting at them, trying to get them to follow. But they couldn't.

Because at that moment, the ground fell out from under their feet.

* * *

**Please R&R, it's always nice to know what you think.**

**I'm going to have to leave you with this cliff-hanger however, because I have a promise to keep to those that wish to learn Sheppard's fate....**


	5. Scattered: Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sheppard sat thinking. There wasn't much else he could do now. Oh, they had been given duties, but they were sick, twisted versions of what they had done before. He didn't think he could cope with seeing another "selection".

He should have been able to have done more. They shouldn't have ended up like this. He remembered a conversation he had had with Keller a few days ago.

"_You couldn't have changed anything, John_."

"_I could have found a way. I could have stopped them before they even reached the city."_

"_With what? There was barely enough power to sustain critical systems."_

Keller had been right. They wasn't anything they could have done, but that knowledge didn't comfort him when he remembered what happened.

***

"_The cccity is sssecured." hissed one of the creatures. _

"_Havve the inhabiantsss brought to the Gate rrroom," another replied, "thenn we ssshalll begin the… ssselection."_

_John didn't' like the sound of this "selection" thing. He struggled in the grip of the metal suit that held him. He looked over at the others. Lorne and his team were surrounded by the metal suit monsters, while others were being shepparded into the area below the control room. The creatures were all female, and while at any other time this may have been a pleasurable prospect, it no longer held any attraction. They were tall and willowy, with clawed feet and deadly looking nails. He could see vestal feathers on their reddish skin, especially on their arms where the feathers seemed to create a wing-like appearance. One of the creatures moved towards Todd, flanked by two metal monsters._

"_You have given usss grrreat difficulty in locatinggg you." She motioned to the suits following her. They stepped round her and forced the wraith to its knees, "Grrreat difficulty indeed," she crooned as she stroked Todd cheek with one of her talons, drawing a line of dark blood._

"_You are…too late," hissed Todd, his silted eyes narrowed in hate at the creature, "That which you search for is no longer in my possession." _

_The bird-creature hissed and struck Todd, leaving four bloody gashes across his face. "Then you will take usss to itss location before you are dessstroyed like the resssst of your kind."_

"_Alpha, we arrre rrready to begin."_

_Sheppard saw that the gate room was filled with everyone from Atlantis, looking scared and uncertain. The creature standing over Todd nodded. Soon the room was filled with screams as the metal monsters began to systematically kill members of the general population._

_A sudden shriek tore John's gaze from the grizzly sight below him. Todd had managed to break part of the bonds holding him, enough to allow his left arm freedom. He flicked a knife into his hand and grabbed the Alpha, holding the knife to her neck._

"_Stop this carnage and allow these people safe passage, or the Alpha dies." Todd snarled at the hissing bird-people._

"_Hasss'parianssss do not ssssubmit to wrrrraith demandssss!" one spat, "Guardianssss!" The metal creatures raised an arm and Sheppard heard a hum, like the charging of a weapon._

_Todd hissed in defiance, shoving the Has'parian leader to the ground_

_Then he raised the knife to his own throat._

"_Todd, what hell are you doing?!" _

"_Be silent, Sheppard." He turned back to the Has'parians, "Stop now, let them leave or you will never find the component you seek."_

_The Alpha hissed, before nodding to the two Has'parians beside her. They quickly fled down the stairs into the chaos below. The screams soon stopped, to be replaced by the mourning of those that remained. The Alpha turned back to the wraith._

"_Why do you carrre ssso much for thessse humansss?"_

_Todd merely glared and pressed the knife closer to his throat causing small beads of blood to form along the blade. The Alpha tried to smile sweetly but her eyes betrayed her true concern._

"_Activate the Sssstargate." She hissed to the nearest creature. She continued to hold a staring match with Todd as the gate was dialled_

_John watched as people headed towards the gate. The Guardians were directing people, allowing some through the gate and others were forced to one side. Rodney, Ronon, Lorne and his team made it through but Keller, Zelenka, Woolsey and many others were forced to stay behind._

"_What are you doing?" John demanded, "Why aren't you letting those people through?"_

_The Alpha looked at him condescendingly . "We will require… hosstaagess, to ensssure the wraith'sss co-operation. It hass already betrrrayed a loyalty for yourrr people."_

_Todd looked at the creature with a mixture of hatred and disgust. He lowered the knife from his throat and Sheppard though he was going to surrender. The wraith closed his eyes. _

_Then he plunged the dagger into his chest._

_***_

Sheppard leaned his head on his fist, feeling angry at the memory. The Has'parian Alpha had shrieked with fury. She had then ordered the Guardian holding John to escort him to the chair room. Some how, they had brought ZPMs with them and had forced Sheppard to fly the city to another planet. Since then, they had used the remaining expedition members on Atlantis to fly the city from one planet to another and to assist them with their "selections".

John hit the table he was sitting at with frustration, causing the table's other occupant to squeak as her pens fell to the floor.

John looked over at the figure now scrabbling around the floor under the table retrieving her pens. He had named her Chitter, because of the way she tended to utter rapid high-pitched clicks when nervous. Unlike the other Has'parians (or Harpies as he liked to think of them) Chitter was meek, timid and bullied by the others. She was the "bad egg" of the family, so to speak. She had become attached to Sheppard a few days after they had arrived on the first planet the city was forced to land on. Since then, she had become almost inseparable from the Colonel.

Which had made planning their escape attempt that little bit easier.

Nobody suspected the Has'parian adolescent and Atlantis' new leader of working together. More importantly, they never would until the two of them were gone.

* * *

**For those of you that wished to learn Sheppard's fate, I hope that you are now satisfied for the time being. **

**For those of you that are die-hard Todd fans, don't hunt me down with pitchforks just yet!**


	6. Scattered: Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Molly forced the rubble off her as she struggled out from under the debris. She looked around as the dust settled. She appeared to be in some sort of vault, probable used to store some of the pieces from the museum above. Looking up, she saw that she had not fallen too far. She could still make out the shapes of the ruined building above.

A groan made her attention snap to the room's other occupant. Ronon. He must have fallen in at the same time. Unlike her however, he had not had the protection of a personal shield. Molly had been able to attach the device just before the ground gave way and they hit the floor below and everything piled on top of them. She hurried over the rubble to where Ronon was. He was attempting to sit up, but she forced him to remain lying down.

"You okay?" he croaked. She nodded and indicated the shield device, "Good thinking," he replied.

"Are you injured?"

Ronon winced as he sat up again. "Leg," he muttered as he winced again at the pain. Molly removed the rocks that covered the limb and examined it.

"It's broken. There is not much I can do for it." She sat back and looked at Ronon. There were many small cuts on his bare skin and she wished that she had something to clean the dust off of him, "We will have to wait for the others to come and rescue us."

"Anyone else fall down here?" he asked.

"If they did," Molly said, "I think we squashed them."

Ronon chuckled. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, mulling over their options. "You could probable climb out, get help faster," he looked back at Molly. She folded her arms and scowled at him.

"Leaving you down here with a broken leg and who knows how many internal injures and most likely bringing the rest of this place down in the attempt," she retorted, "Oh, yes. Brilliant plan."

"So what are we going to do while we wait for rescue then?" questioned Ronon.

Molly smiled. She looked around the chamber once more before speaking again.

"I spy with my little eye…"

***

Lorne was supervising the work going on around the broken building. The slow speed chafed at him, but he knew that it was necessary to make sure the remaining structure was stabilised before they attempted a rescue.

"Why couldn't the wraith use on of their darts to beam them out?" a Lantian scientist had complained, after being forced to help stabilise the remaining walls.

"Do you wish the Has'parians to come?" the wraith working beside the scientist had answered, "They would surely investigate if a wraith dart was detected."

The scientist had paled, then returned to stabilising the building.

***

"You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"You did! You changed from rock to paper, just so I would win."

They had given up on 'I Spy' when Molly pointed out that the game was heavily biased in favour of wraith as she could not only read Ronon's mind to see what he was thinking of, but could also see in the dark. Then they had tried 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' after Ronon explained the rules that he himself was rather flaky on. Molly had then started using her wraith telepathy to deliberately lose to Ronon, which had turned the game into a battle of wits and dirty tactics to see who could lose the most.

"Okay, I give up," Ronon said, "Call it a draw?"

She shook his hand. "Draw"

Ronon leaned back, looking up a the ceiling. Surely the others would have rescued them by now.

"They have to make sure the area's safe first, before they send anyone down," Molly answered, oblivious to the fact she had just read his mind, "After all, we don't want too much company down here."

Ronon decided to ignore Molly's slip-up. She couldn't help the fact she could hear human thoughts better than the other wraith. It probably drove her mad, being able to hear the thoughts of the expedition all the time on top of the wraith communications. He shook his head at his thoughts. He, Ronon Dex, who had lost more to the wraith than any of the expedition, was standing up for this human-wraith hybrid. Why? Was it because she was so unlike the wraith, that he forgot she was one?

"Tell me about Reilith," he said, "What's it like?"

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, cocking her head, "It's not as if you'll want to go there."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, there's no gate. It was destroyed over ten thousand years ago." She looked sad, as though remembering some event long forgotten, "Then there's the fact that Reilith is the homeworld of the wraith."

***

"Almost ready, sir"

Lorne nodded as he wiped his grimy face. The sun was sinking low and he didn't much fancy trying to perform a rescue in the dark. Hopefully, Molly and Ronon weren't badly injured because that would make things even more awkward. He had got the remaining medical staff on stand-by.

He hoped it was enough.

***

"Then what happened?"

"Don't know really. I _was_ dead at the time, I only found this out later."

Ronon had started telling Molly about the team's more exciting missions. He was now telling her about the time the wraith had almost made it to earth. Strangely, she seemed more interested in his description of the hive ship that had almost defected them rather than the battle itself.

"So this…Uber-hive, it was powered by a single Zee-PM?"

"Yeah, that's why it was so powerful. You asked that already." Ronon saw her calculating look and became suspicious, "What?"

"You and Major Lorne have been able to acquire five modules in total, haven't you?"

"Because the Harpies are also looking for them, that's why." Ronon retorted, not liking where Molly's reasoning was heading.

"But what if we used them?" Molly suggested, her eyes shining with excitement, "If we also use the other hive in orbit, then we may have enough fire-power to take down a Has'parian ship!"

"No," Ronon said flatly, "It's too dangerous."

Molly rounded on him, "I'm tired of running, tired of hiding from the Has'parians while they kill thousands throughout the galaxy. I thought you would feel the same."

"Molly? Ronon? You okay down there?"

Ronon looked up top the hole in the ceiling and saw Major Lorne being lowered down. When the Major saw them, he grinned and said something to the people holding the rope. He was lowered down to the uneven floor of the chamber and made his way over to them.

"How are you two doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Molly informed him, "but Ronon has a broken leg and possible other injures."

Lorne nodded at the information.

"Let's get you two out of here."

"First though," Molly said, "Could you lend me your communicator? I need to speak with Tr'ken McKay before he dismantles too much of the other Hive."

Lorne looked at her quizzically, "Why?"

"Because I have an idea that might give us an edge in this war."

* * *

**The pieces are starting to move into place now.**

**More Sheppard next chapter!**


	7. Scattered: Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Sheppard!" hissed a voice in his ear, "You mussst get up!"

Sheppard opened his eyes blearily. Chitter was standing by his bed, a frantic look on her face.

"What's the problem?" he asked sleepily, getting out of bed.

"The other'sss have discovered Dr Keller's resistance force," the Has'parian told him as he got dressed, "she and othersss on her staff had been ssstockpiling weaponsss and supliess."

Sheppard swore under his breath as he pulled on his jacket. Jennifer had become so secretive since the takeover. He would never have believed she would attempt a take-over, but the stockpile weapons probably meant that she had intended some form of resistance. The Has'parians had changed them, made them harder, colder.

"If we wish to escape," Chitter continued, "our besst hope would be to do sso during her execution."

John wondered what it now said about him that he didn't care that Jennifer Keller was going to be put to death for trying to help people. All that her death entailed to him now was the possibility for his own liberation.

He wasn't sure if he liked the new John Sheppard.

Grabbing a bag he kept packed at all times, John followed Chitter into the corridor. The city was deserted. The curfew meant that all the Lantians had to be in their quarters unless they had express permission from the Alpha to be elsewhere. John and Chitter needed to make it to the Jumper bay, where they had been secretly loading one of the jumpers with supplies, weapons and information gathered from the Has'parians.

"What time's the ceremony?" Sheppard whispered to Chitter as they skulked through the deserted corridors.

"Ssoon." she replied, "All Hass'parinass are to attend and the procedure will be recorded sso it can be sshown to the rest of your people ass a warning."

They continued to move along in silence, heading steadily towards the Jumper bay. They were almost free.

"Shit!" hissed Sheppard. Two Has'parians were blocking their way to the Jumper bay and were heading straight towards them. Grabbing Chitter, he side-stepped into one of the Atlantis teleporters, hitting a destination at random. Chitter lived up to her name as they stepped out of the transporter.

"Don't ever, ever do that again!" she hissed, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

Sheppard merely shrugged and tried to get his bearings. They were in one of the lower levels, off-limits to the Lantians. Leading the way down the corridor, he headed towards the stairs.

"Stop!" Chitter exclaimed suddenly, dragging Sheppard back around a corner, "Two more. Up ahead."

Sheppard snuck a look. Indeed, there were two Has'parians, guarding the door to one of Atlantis' brigs.

"That where Keller is?"

Chitter shook her head. "No, she and her colleaguess are awaiting death in the upper-levels. I do not know who requires such a guard down here."

Sheppard smiled grimly as he pulled a grenade from his flak-jacket. "Let's find out, shall we?"

The resulting explosion left Sheppard's ears ringing. He rotated his jaw in order to clear his ears, as he moved down the now ruined corridor.

"What happened to escaping unnoticed?!" trilled Chitter indignantly, but Sheppard wasn't listening. Forcing his way through the wreckage of the doorway what he saw turned his stomach.

The brig had been transformed into a torture chamber. There was a rack near the wall filled with brutal looking tools of punishment and a bank of computers on the opposite wall. What freaked Sheppard out the most however, was the broken figure lying on the floor of the cell.

"No," he said to himself, "that's impossible." He hurried over to the prone form and crouched down next to it. Chitter entered the room cautiously, her eyes widening in horror at the sight.

"Give me a hand here, Chitter," Sheppard grunted as he attempted to raise the figure from its position on the floor. A feathered hand lightly touched his shoulder.

"There isss nothing either of usss can do for him," Chitter said delicately, "Hisss injuresss from the…interrogationsss are too server, he isss near death."

"You don't get it do you?" Sheppard snapped at her, "I saw him stick a dagger in his own chest. I saw him die! So how the hell is he still around to die all over again?!"

Chitter looked between John and the broken figure of Todd and shook her head. "I no not. But what can we do for him here?"

Sheppard looked at the wall for a minute. "We're going to need a change of plan."

***

Chitter waited anxiously in the jumper with all their supplies. John was determined not to leave the dying wraith in the cell, not until he had got some answers. Chitter didn't know what his questions even were, though she suspected it had something to do with the creatures miraculous recovery from dead to dying.

She looked over at wraith. He had barely stirred from when they had manhandled him out of the cell, into the transporter, through the corridors and into the jumper bay. Or rather, _she_ had dragged him there. Sheppard decided that the best way to avoid their capture was for one of them to go and cause a distraction. She hoped that he returned soon, there was no way she would be able to pilot this ship if he failed to return.

A figure appeared in the hatch way. Chitter shrieked and pointed the nine mil pistol she had been given at the shape, her hand shaking.

"Knock it off, Chitter," chastised Sheppard, "Your worse than Rodney."

Chitter slumped weakly and offered him an apologetic smile. He pushed past her and into the front half of the jumper and sat at the controls. The ship woke up at his touch and the rear hatch closed.

"Sit tight," he advised, "we're probably gonna get shot at. Make sure Todd's secure."

Chitter followed his orders before seating herself into the co-pilot seat. AS the ship descended into the gate-room, Chitter could hear the defiant curses and screams of her sisterhood. Sheppard ignored them and hit buttons on the console between them. The gate whooshed into life and the jumper, with its precious cargo, escaped into the event horizon.

***

Sheppard made several jumps before he seemed satisfied that they were not followed. When he was he left his seat to examine their wraith passenger. Chitter looked too, only because she had never seen a wraith before. This one looked in bad shape. There were four thin scars running across its face, marring the star-like tattoo over its left eye. The stains of dried dark blood on its clothes showed were it had suffered physical torture at the hands of her sisterhood. Its matted hair could have been white, but dark blood had stained that as well. Sheppard raised its right hand and Chitter saw numerous cuts and puncture wounds covering the hand.

Sheppard looked at the wraith with a stony detachment. She had seen that look on his face before, when he had returned for a "selection" or when one of his people were executed as traitors. It was a look of a man that knew what had to be done.

Almost too late, she realised what he was planning to do.

"No!" she hissed, grabbing his arm, "What you plan to do isss suicide!"

Sheppard merely looked at her, a snarl curling his lip. "There's a lot you don't know about humans. Number one, we don't give up on people." He looked back at the wraith, "This guy saved my ass a couple of times since I first met him. Though I hate to admit it, we needed him a damn sight more than he needed us for the most part. The least I can do is give the bastard back his life."

Before Chitter could say another word, Sheppard placed Todd's feeding hand against his chest. The screams followed a moment later.

* * *

**I hope I have briefly satisfied all those that were indignat of my past treatment of Todd. I'm not willing to let him go just yet....**

**Please review. It always helps to know what people think.**


	8. Scattered: Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The bolt of blue light hit Sheppard squarely in the back, throwing him away from Todd. Groaning, he lifted his head to see Chitter pointing a wraith stunner at him.

"I thought all the wraith tech got destroyed," he mumbled, startled at how weak his voice sounded.

"I wasss able to retrieve a few itemsss before they were incinerated," Chitter's voice was bordering on the sonic level, "What were you thinking?! How will it help the wraith if you get yourssself killed and there isss no one to fly thisss ship?!"

Sheppard stood up, feeling his prematurely aged joints complaining at the movement. He looked at Todd. The wraith was at least breathing noticeably now and some of the visible wounds were now partially healed. He would have hated to have given away so many years of his life for Todd to still die on him. Again.

A beeping from the counsel made both John and Chitter turn.

"Proximity alarm, " said Sheppard, his voice sounding a little stronger now, "another ship about to exit hyperspace."

"Has'parians?" asked Chitter nervously.

"I don't think – whoa!"

The Ancient warship exited hyperspace mere metres from them. The whole scene had such a sense of 'déjà vu' that Sheppard had to smile. Another control lit up, indicating that they were being hailed. He switched on the mike.

"Larrin? That you? Cause I've got to say, you've got great timing if it is."

"Larrin's dead." came the female voice over the coms, "She was killed by the bird-women's metal pets because they deemed her 'contaminated'."

Sheppard sat in numb shock. How come Larrin of all people would be thought of as 'contaminated'? When would she have-? He stopped, realising exactly when and where Larrin had come into close enough contact to a wraith for the Harpies to be able to sense the genetic signature on her.

"Scans indicate three life-signs aboard you vessel," continued the woman, "identify them or we blast you."

"One kid harpy and one wraith." answered Sheppard. Chitter looked at him exasperatedly. The only response he could come up with was a shrug.

"Harpy? You mean one of those bird-women? And a wraith? Together?" the voice sounded incredulous.

"Let us aboard and you can see for yourself," replied Sheppard. The woman on the other end seemed to consider this for a minute.

"Okay. Use bay three." With that, the transmission was cut off.

***

The Travellers had been able to give him a change of clothes. He didn't feel comfortable wearing his expedition uniform anymore. He wandered out of the room he had been given and bumped into Farina. She had become the captain of the ship after their old one was killed during one of their hit-and-run attacks on the Harpy ships.

"Settling in?" she asked.

"I'd feel better if I knew were my friends were." Sheppard replied.

"The bird-girl is in the brig." she held up her hand as Sheppard opened his mouth to complain, "I would like to add that she insisted. We've lost a lot of people to them over the years. Not many of my crew would take kindly to her being on board, so, for now, the brig's the safest place for her."

"What about Todd?"

"That's why I came to find you." She led the way down the hallway and Sheppard followed. "The bird-girl showed us how to interface with your ships databanks do we were able to use that to help with treating the wraith." She stopped outside a doorway and looked at Sheppard critically. "You failed to mention that that wraith is insane."

"What?"

"Just what I said. The thing seems to think that its hallucinating. I thought that maybe you could snap it out of it." She smiled knowingly as John, "You two do have a history, after all. It was in the databanks." She said at Sheppard's confused expression.

She opened the door and gestured for him to enter. He did so, and she closed the door behind him. The room was dark, but Sheppard was able to make out the huddled form of Todd on the bed.

"Todd?" said Sheppard, "It's me, Sheppard. How you doing?" I suck at this bedside manner thing worse than Elizabeth did, he thought to himself. The shape on the bed stirred. "I heard you were kinda confused when you woke up," continued Sheppard, "so they thought a friendly face may help."

"Go…"

"What?"

"Will not… tell..."

"Okay, buddy, you're really starting to confuse me. Won't tell what?"

Todd's only response was to curl up further on the bed. Sheppard walked closer to the bed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to comfort Todd, tell him that he was safe, or just see the wraith's condition. He reached out to the figure on the bed. In a flurry of movement, Todd's arm shot up and grabbed John's out-stretched arm. Sheppard started but didn't pull away. That would probably mean the loss of his arm. Todd's eyes were wild with fear and… what? Sheppard looked closer and saw the hollow determinism behind Todd's eyes. Farina had been right. Todd had lost his mind, probably from the torture that he had suffered from the Harpies.

"Todd," he tried to calm the wraith, but he was steadily loosing circulation in his aged wrist, "what did the Harpies want to know?"

With a snarl, Todd used John's imprisoned arm to throw him across the room. With a thud, Sheppard's back hit the wall and he slid to the floor. Farina opened the door, holding a gun like Ronon's.

"I take it that it didn't want to see you either," she said as she helped him to his feet. He put his hand to the back of his head and found blood on his fingers. Farina took his arm and lead him towards the infirmary.

"Come along, grandfather," she said stoically, "let's get you seen to."

***

Chitter was under armed guard as she worked on the Puddle Jumper's interface so that she could extract more information for the Travellers that had saved them. She didn't mind the presence of the guards, but she did wish they didn't look so trigger-happy. She reached down to pick up a scanner tool, but one of her guards snatched it up. He waved it tantalisingly at her.

"You want this back?" he asked.

"What are you doing, Harek? Just give it to the bird already," one of his cohorts said. The man ignored them. He slid the scanner into a back pocket on his pants.

Chitter chewed her lip. She was not naive, she knew that the guard would say that she was attempting to attack him if she tried to retrieve the scanner. She turned away from the man and looked through the tools she had been provided for something that would work in replace of the scanner.

"Hey! I'm not finish talking to you, freak." The man grabbed Chitter's left arm and she screeched. The guard was spooked by the sudden outcry, dropping her arm hurriedly. Chitter bit her lip against the pain in her wrist. Like a bird, her bones were hollow, which meant that they were fragile to excess force. She bit her lip again and attempted to hold back tears of pain.

"Everything okay, soldier?"

Chitter looked up to see the aged Sheppard glaring at the guards. All of them had backed away from the jumper and their guilty colleague. Harek looked around for support, but quailed under the harsh gaze of those that surrounded him. Cautiously he took the scanner from his back pocket and handed it to Chitter.

"No harm meant," he muttered, "just a misunderstanding. No damage done."

"We'll see about that," replied Sheppard. The man flinched as if he'd been struck. It seemed that everyone was on edge around Sheppard now. Chitter wondered if it had something to do with the ageing caused by the wraith feeding, or was it something to do with the Atlantis expedition. Either way, Chitter was glad to have him around. He was her guardian. He would look after her no matter what… wouldn't he?

Chitter nervously picked up the scanner and tried to look busy. Sheppard continued to stare at her as she worked.

"I've seen your kind gut a man with their talons," he said finally, "why'd you put up with that treatment?"

"I am not like the othersss," muttered Chitter trying to swap two crystals, but her hands were shaking too much.

"I know that, but you've got to stand up for yourself," insisted Sheppard, "otherwise they'll make your life misery."

"What do you want me to do?!" snapped Chitter, rounding on him. Her eyes were filled with fear. "If I fight them, they will kill me. They will say I am jussst like the othersss of my kind! I will not be shown mercy. I will not be shown compassion. Thisss is what my kind, my sistersss, have made me. I have no choice but to submit to their cruelty. The only other choice isss death."

Tears flowed down Chitter's face. John put his arm around her as she sobbed. She snuggled into him for comfort.

"Sheppard," crackled a voice on his com-unit, "you there?"

John tapped the unit on. "I'm listening."

"Scans just picked up two wraith signals. Two powerful signals. Doesn't make sense. I would have thought that the remaining wraith ould be hiding out."

"You got the location?"

"Heading there right now. If we're picking up these signals, then I'm sure our feathered friends are too. Need you in our chair, Sheppard."

"On my way," he replied. Squeezing Chitter's shoulder reassuringly, he left and headed towards the chair room.

* * *

**My apologise for the lack of new chapters recently. Life is getting ever so slightly hectic.**

**One more chapter to go, and phase one is finished! Please remember to R&R. Otherwise, how will I know what you think of this?**


	9. Scattered: Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Rodney looked around the newly rebuilt hive.

"Okay, Zed-PM in place, power distributing nicely, no fluctuations. I'd say we were nearly good to go."

A high pitched whine filled the corridors of the hive.

"Oh crap," said Rodney, before rushing to the command deck. "What now?" he demanded as he entered the command deck.

"Two Has'parian ships are approaching our position," growled the commander.

Rodney's eyes opened wide. "Okay, this is really bad. I mean, yes, I've got the Zed-PM interfaces up and running, but the hives are going to need more time to adjust to the new power source."

"Meaning?"

"Err… we're sitting ducks." The commander growled something in wraith and the others looked worried. McKay sighed. "Look, I'll do the best I can, but there is almost no chance of these ships being battle ready before the ships get here."

"Then we must have an alternative stratagem," Grizzle stated. She turned to look at Molly, cocking her head to the side. Molly shifted uneasily. The expedition knew that Grizzle had been… disappointed with Molly's decision to fight back against the Has'parians.

Molly managed look back at the Prophetess stoically. "Then we shall have to hope that the darts are able to hold them off until weapons are online."

"You know how the Has'parians fight," snarled Grizzle. Rodney noticed Ronon, standing in the shadows by the wall, tighten the grip on his gun. "The Has'parians posses beaming technology that allows them to transport their metal monsters onboard our hives and destroy us from within. How are we meant to fight back then?"

Molly glanced over at McKay. He shrugged, what else could he do? He steered clear wraith politics, especially the sort that involved queens.

"We will just have to do the best we can," Molly answered simply. She turned and walked out of the bridge. When she left, Ronon detached himself from the shadows and followed her.

As if my day wasn't weird enough, thought McKay. "No pressure then," he muttered, before hurrying away to try and get the hives battle-ready.

***

Teyla arrived on the bridge of the Daedalus. Caldwell was standing in front of one of the terminals towards the rear of the bridge. He looked concerned

"What is happening?" she asked.

"We picked up two powerful wraith signals," he replied, pointing to two blips on the screen, "and there are two Has'parian cruisers inbound on their position."

Teyla stared at the screen, bewilderment filling her mind. Surely the wraith knew that they were hunted. Why then, were there two such clear signals? Did they somehow wish to go down fighting? From what little she could remember about wraith culture, that seemed the most likely option.

"I believe that we must investigate this," she told to Caldwell. "We still have no clear indication as to why the Has'parians are hunting wraith, or those that have been in contact with wraith, as viciously as they are." Teyla went silent as a fresh memory bubbled to the surface of her mind. Caldwell put a hand on her shoulder.

"We've already set course for their location," Caldwell told her. "We'll be there in under half an hour, there abouts."

Teyla nodded. She left the bridge and Caldwell didn't stop her. He understood that she wanted to be alone to mourn the destruction of the Athosians.

***

When the ship exited hyperspace, the Has'parians had beaten them there. Two Has'parian cruisers were firing on the two Wraith hive ships, darts swarming around the enemy vessels and attempting to do some sort of damage to the Has'parian ships.

"They're never going to win," muttered Caldwell grimly. He saw a strange distortion to the hives, one that he recognized. The wraith were attempting to utilise ZPM technology to increase the power of their ships. That explained the strong signal at least.

"Receiving a transmission sir," one of the crew told him. "Audio only."

"Let's hear it," said Caldwell, nodding to Teyla as she entered the bridge.

"…_this is Major Even Lorne of the former Atlantis expedition. I repeat, are you receiving this transmission? Daedalus, this is-"_

"Open a channel," ordered Caldwell. "Major Lorne, this is Daedalus."

There was silence for a few moments. _"You have no idea how good it is to hear a friendly voice, sir!"_

"I take it you're aboard one of those hive ships, Major," said Caldwell, a side long look at Teyla confirming that she was as overjoyed to hear the familiar voice of Lorne as he was. "Are there anymore Atlantis personnel with you?"

"_Yes sir, but not for much longer if you don't help us get these Harpies off our backs,"_ answered Lorne. _"I'm being told that we can't maintain hull integrity for much longer."_

"Fire on the nearest ship!" ordered Caldwell. "I want those Has'parians taken out."

The Daedalus's Asgard weaponry fired at the nearest cruiser, but it didn't even make a dent on their shields. The Has'parian ships stopped firing though. They seemed to be confused about which ship they should be attacking.

"We're not having much luck disabling them from our end either," Caldwell informed Lorne. "Suggest that we start beaming people over here immediately."

"_Negative, sir, there's too many for that,"_ replied Lorne. There was a sudden background whispering, of which the Daedalus crew could only hear part off.

"_What?... You sure that would work?... McKay, I need-… Okay then, I'll-… I'm not sure that's a wise idea, ma'am… With all due respect-… Fine, it's your call." _Lorne finally addressed Caldwell directly. _"We've got a few additional Zee-PMs that you can use to boost your weaponry and shields. Dr McKay thinks that you may then have enough fire-power to damage the cruisers."_

"We'll lock onto your radio signal and beam you on board," Caldwell told him, "but we'll need you to lower the wraith jamming signal first."

"_Okay sir, but you'd better be quick about it."_

"Wraith jamming has been disabled on one of the hives, sir," announced a technician.

"Beam him onboard," ordered Caldwell.

There was the sudden shimmer of the Asgard transported beam, but it was not Major Lorne who was standing on the bridge. There was the click of weapons being raised. The hooded wraith shook her head.

"Do you want this or not?" she asked, proffering the Zee-PM she held. Teyla noticed that she was also holding what had to be Major Lorne's com-unit.

"Where is Major Lorne?" Teyla asked, her own gun pointed at the wraith.

"He is aboard one of the hives, but unless you aid us now, he will be destroyed, along with those ships."

Caldwell nodded, and a scientist took the ZPM and ran to hook it into the Daedalus's power systems.

"If you don't mind me asking," Caldwell said to their surprise guest, "but who the hell are you?"

The wraith's white eyes fixed onto Caldwell. "Among my people, I am known as the Prophetess." A smile played across her lips, revealing her needle-like teeth. "But I believe your Major Lorne has named me 'Grizzle'."

Caldwell looked like he was about to comment, but the sudden shudder as the Has'parian ships turned their fire on the Daedalus made him reconsider.

"Return fire," he ordered, "and I want that Zee-PM online asap!"

As the Has'parian fire increased in ferocity, the Daedalus's shield were boosted just in time to prevent their immediate destruction. With their juiced-up beam weapons, they were able to take out first the engines, then the weapons, of one of the ships. There were cheers as the enemy ship hung there in space, completely crippled. Caldwell was not so optimistic.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "We've still got another ship to deal with first."

"Not just one," Teyla said darkly. "Another ship has just dropped out of hyperspace."

The crew ceased their premature celebrations.

"Sir, we're receiving a radio transmission." Caldwell nodded to the technician.

"Let's hear it," Caldwell said.

"_About time you lot showed up!"_ cracked Sheppard's voice over the speakers, to the collective amazement of everyone on the bridge.

"I was about to say the same thing, Colonel," replied a shocked Caldwell, with a shared smile to Teyla. "Any chance you can give us a hand with these ships? Major Lorne informs me that there are a number of you expedition onboard those hives."

" _Will do,"_ came Sheppard's reply.

Soon, the Ancient warship joined the fight, firing drones at the remaining Has'parian cruiser. The odds started to look more in their favour at last.

"The other ship has been disabled," announced one of the Daedalus crew members.

"Looks like we might actually get through this," said Caldwell.

The ancient wraith suddenly stood stock-still. Her eyes stared ahead blankly, as if seeing something no one else could. With a sudden snarl, she looked down at the nearest technician.

"Move!" she ordered. The technician complied and the Prophetess sat at his place typing commands into the consol.

"What are you doing?" demanded Teyla.

"Saving your lives," it answered, continuing to type.

"We have hostiles onboard!" cried a technician. The door to the command bridge burst open as three metal Guardians entered. The crew fired at them, but their guns made no effect. The Prophetess looked at them with blind eyes before hitting one button on the keyboard.

Enter.

There was the flash of the Asgard transport beam and the three Guardians vanished. The crew of the Daedalus were looking around in confusion, wondering what happened. Then Teyla saw the wraith hit another button on the keyboard.

Delete.

"What have you done?" demanded Teyla, grabbing the Prophetess's bony wrist.

"I merely beamed the Guardians both here and aboard the other ships into this ship's buffers, before clearing them," replied the wraith, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"_Daedalus,"_ said Sheppard's voice, _"what just happened?"_

***

It was several hours later. There had been much catching up to do. The wraith had been more than willing to allow the crews from the other two ships onboard, after the offer to help make the more battle ready. McKay had been most interested in Grizzle's method of disposing of the Guardians. He was more curious however, in knowing how the blind wraith had worked out how to do it. She had, so far, denied him a satisfactory answer.

Now the respective leaders of each faction waited patiently for the arrival of the last. The hive commander stormed in, and nodded curtly to the assembled group.

"My apologies for my late arrival," he growled, "I was delayed by members of my crew. It appears I have not yet stamped out this strange obsession they have developed." He took his seat.

"What's he talking about?" Sheppard whispered to Mckay. Rodney smiled nervously at the Colonel. They had all been shocked by Sheppard's new appearance.

"Umm, he's referring to the fact that some of the wraith, well, most of them actually, have taken up poker." McKay shrugged. "He keeps trying to make them stop, saying it's a waste of time."

"Sounds like my battle against Solitaire," chuckled Caldwell.

"This is not what we are here to discuss," reminded Grizzle. "It is clear that the Has'parians will stop at nothing to destroy all trace of wraith from this-"

"That's why we have to fight back," interrupted Sheppard.

"And how are we to do that?" she asked. "The hives were significantly damaged in the battle. It will take time for them to be repaired."

"And with the Zed-PMs in place," added McKay, "the Harpies will be able to detect us, no matter what sort of shielding we use to alter the genetic signal."

"My people too," said Farina. "No doubt we'll be classed as 'contaminated' for helping you. What are we to do now?"

"I think I have an option."

All eyes turned to Molly. She immediately shied under their gaze, but she managed to recompose herself.

"I know of a world we can go to, where the Has'parians will never be able to detect us."

"Where?" asked Lorne.

"My home-world," she answered, "Reilith." Molly turned to the Prophetess. "You foresaw this, didn't you?"

Grizzle merely allowed the merest hint of a smile to curl her lips. "We have much work that will still need to be done if we are to get the hives fit for hyperspace travel," the elderly wraith said, ignoring Molly's half-hearted growls. Rising, she swept out of the room, and many of the others followed suit.

Lorne offered the hybrid girl an exhausted smile as he too started to leave.

"Look on the bright side," he said. "Looks like you're going home."

"Oh joy," she replied sarcastically. She watched the others leave, and with a sigh, decided that she might as well do the same.

There was much that needed to be done before her home-coming.

* * *

**And so ends the first Phase! But worry not! Work has already started on the second phase, so watch this space!**

**Please don't forget to R&R as well. Reviews are a good way of making me work faster...**


	10. Update

Greetings all, this is the author speaking.

I know that most of you hate this sort of chapters as much as I do, with their deceptive promise of more story, but I felt I was at fault for leaving you in the dark for so long.

First of all, no, I don't know when the next chapter will be. University has consumed pretty much all my creativity and spare time.

Secondly, I will finish this eventually. Just probably not within the next year (or at least its highly unlikely).

Thirdly, ... I need to get back to planning my dissertation.

Thank you, patient readers. And to you impatient ones... *gets out flame-proof umbrella*


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